UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Let me first say that I am an advocate of the permanence of marriage. This is a position that is rare amongst believer’s to say the least. John Piper also holds this position linked here. Not as if Piper is the final point of arbitration-for he is not. I linked it so you would be able to read his stance to get an idea of what I am talking about here. My stance is a lot more exhaustive but at least you’ll get an idea from reading his article on the matter. I have had a formal debate about the matter with my dearly beloved brother from Stand Up Ministries-Saiko Woods already and really don’t want to argue about it anymore-but just thought I would share. Let me tell you a story and see if you can imagine what you would do…..

Your beautiful wife(or husband) of 3 years finds out that she is pregnant!! You are both estatic over the matter and start to make preparations for the new child. You and your spouse have already agreed that she will stay home for a few years and you will work. So the man gets 3 jobs to slowly peck away at the debt and the wife searches for work to do at home on the computer all while making preparations to eventually come home from her day job. Soon enough the beautiful child is born and all seems to be going well. The good news is that you are making the ends meet with your 3 jobs but the bad news is that your relationship is dwindling because you are never at home with the family.

The husband realized this is not working as planned so the wife searches for work outside the home again since the at home computer thing just isn’t working out. The husbands approves of her new found job and they work opposite shifts in order to have round the clock care for the baby. In the time you took preparing for the baby-you also pull your family from a heavy word of faith-prosperity-seeker sensitive church and in retrospect, this move; strengthened your faith and weakened your spouses. You realize that the Lord spoke to you and saved you through this ordeal and in the process realized that your spouse is not a believer.

In the course of the next 3 months the relationship continues to dwindle and your spouse drops the bomb!! “I commited adultery!” Ironically(sovereign grace) enough you have been studying how to be a better spouse and how that is liken unto Christ and His Church. You now being a believer understand that when you recieve truth it must be followed by action, fueled by love-otherwise it is meaningless or useless. What to you do? Do you take the “Exception Clause” view and run for the hills as if you have not been a sinner who was dispatched an unlimited amount of grace or do you see this as an excusable reason to divorce your spouse? On the one hand you say, ” This is messed up Lord and this is NOT what I signed up for!” on the other you say, “What an extraordinary way to be like Christ and bask in the fellowship of His suffering.”

You see how your spouse has become the total opposite of what you had come to know and love and scriptures run through your mind regarding persecution and how the Lord said “I have not come to bring Peace…..” Listen here…

The Dictionary or the world defines love as this;A deep, tender, ineffable “feeling” of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.
How does this contrast with the Biblical Worldview of Love? Let us look and see.

1 Corinthians 13(emphasis mine)
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

First let me say; Isn’t it ironic how truth is connected to love? No coincidence here. Truth is conformity with fact and reality or whatever corresponds to reality. The type of love we see in these passages are rarely seen in our culture today. Yes we see couples who are happy and love without limits but are they manifesting true Biblical love? We see couples continuously getting divorces over ridiculous things. Most commonly we see divorces due to selfishness. In our culture people love and they will say it is unconditional but when something goes not according to their plan they retract their love like a rattle snake after a vicious strike to its victim. Really their love for you is tied to how they perceive your love for them. This is NOT Biblical Love, it is love centered around their own selfish will. Let me pause and say, “I have not arrived and I am learning this daily in my marriage and my wife can be a witness to this fact” I have seen enormous flaws in my past with the way I loved my wife and people in general and it is always tied to how I am treated versus how I would like to be treated regardless of their reaction towards me. You see our relationship to God is first and to people second. The way we treat people is a direct correlation of our understanding and obedience to God.

James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.

In this James hits the nail on the head. We are self-centered by our Adamic nature from birth but we are now striving after the qualities and nature of Christ and they are contrary to this world. If you look into your life, just think how putting the needs of others would make a difference in every situation. This is no way makes men passive or feminized, it on the contrary emulates the attributes of Christ with love and truth hand and hand; you see it can be no other way. For example-If you love your friend or family member, your love for them compels you to tell them the truth about their corrupt state, that is true love.

John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last.(emphasis mine)

1 Peter4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.(emphasis mine)

Being in Love-I have come to the realization that this is not a Biblical Term. Biblical Love is never a state. Love is always a commitment, a choice, or an action. So the Bible crucifies what we call “In Love”, in this we see people say they fall out of love or fall into love as if it is some magical hole in the air. Love is something totally(maybe not totally but in conjunction with) aside from our fickle emotions. If you look at people in the Bible in Acts, at the time of conversion you very rarely see any documentation of emotions tied to their salvation aside from joy and happiness in their suffering in which they see it as an honor to be counted worthy to suffer for HIM. We are to Love our wives as Christ Loves the church and love one another as our self. If love is simply tied to feeling or sex, when we have hard times the marriage will diminish and a allegory can be made from that to how we see the false gospel preached and when people go through storms of life(in which the Bible promises persecution to every true believer) they fade away.(parable of the Sower)

Analyze your love in the face of the truth of God’s infallible Word. I assure you that you will see a immediate need for a change in the way you deal with people and not just your spouse. Remember your horizontal relationships are just a reflection of your vertical relationship with the Creator of all. In Christ

Who needs Faith?

“I finally got it!!” I spent 4 years in a Prosperity-Word of Faith cult, 1 of which I was awakened to my ignorance by the grace of God and then decided to get out and search for a Biblical body of believer’s. I could imagine this is how I felt once the Lord rescued me from that madness. 8 months later I would find a church; join and from this point-trying as hard as I could to keep away from the likes of the heresies taught by many faith teachers and charlatans. In my attempt to do this I; in my Reformed(Biblical) circles, skip over the scriptures that speak of things that seem charismatic or too faith oriented to grasp. I gradually place “Faith” on the shelf of the past and proceed for Biblical sound doctrine since I finally found what I was looking for. This is going to be somewhat of a culmination of what I have been studying and experiencing in the past couple of months on finances, faith, and life..so please excuse the clutter.

First let me clarify that I am trying very hard to lose the term “Reformed” and hence forth, that word will be replaced with “Biblical.” I have hastily come to the conclusion that reformed does not describe what I believe and is too broad of a term to really encompass who I(we) am in Christ. “Biblical” can more closely define who we are in Christ. I, along with Lionel am reading “The Reformers and Their Stepchildren”, by Leonard Verduin. This book is great and closely examines the reformation and brings to light-when we say reformed-what do we really mean?

I am a part of a great home congregation in which i believe the Lord is leading and has been with us and guiding us daily. Now I finally found a Biblical church and got away from the craziness. To my surprise I come to the knowledge that these believer’s like so many in the Charismatic circles have experiences to go along with their testimonies just like those in the Word of Faith churches. Is this wrong or is it Biblical? Isn’t there a little subjectivity along with everyone’s objective faith in Christ? Yes, just think of Moses, Samuel, Paul and so many others. Now what about “Faith” and what part does that play in “Biblical” circles. How do we build our Faith? How is Faith apart of our every day lives? Do we allow the Lord room to show Himself? Faith seemed to be such a integral part of peoples lives in the time when Christ was ministering before His ascension. I just recently realized that in my attempt to get away for the Charis-mania that I somehow lost the zeal to exercise Faith in ways that would not exactly fit into western christian reformed circles. What do I mean? Well, this may seem simple to some but…the last time your car broke down, what did you do? When your air conditioner went out in your house…when your family member died and you did not have the money to travel…when your child was sick..when you were sick…

Well I can answer for myself and say..I without thinking ran to my credit cards before praying for the Lord to intervene or provide without going into debt and using other resources. When my son gets sick I run to the doctor sometimes while praying other times without praying about it until afterwards. What aspects of our life in this western world do we see the Lord moving mightily and the result only able to be attributed to the work of God. My next book read is going to be on the life of George Mueller. I have heard rave reviews of this man and his faith, prayer life, and testimony.

I have read so many “Biblical” books about the Apostles and the works they did and for the life of me cannot be satisfied by this answer—-The miracles and work that the apostles did was only to authenticate the Gospel. HOGWASH!!! Exegetically being faithful to the texts we cannot make that answer walk on all four’s. It just does not hold water. I have stood by that answer for a long time now and it just is an excuse for us to explain away, possibly our lack of faith. I have even stood by Macarthur’s explanation (1 Cor 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.) about gifts but how we exclude certain gifts and then keep others?

Here is the question I leave you. How do we know when to exercise faith and believe God versus handling it ourselves? Is their a relationship of Faith and Works modeled by Abraham in laying with his wife after receiving the promise of a child? Are we to view our Faith as Synergistic or Monergistic? These are questions I ponder a lot in seeking the Lord about many things like salvation of loved ones, getting out of debt to be freed up for missions and ministry, and the lists goes on. Throughout the entire New Testament we are constantly reminded of the faith of others and how the Lord uses faith in the life of His people. Again…

How do we know when to exercise faith and believe God versus handling it ourselves?

The Church That Disciplines

This was written by an elder in our church and I thought it was an excellent article-Enjoy

Tyris Horton Sr.

Author: Jim Elliff

Let me tell you why church discipline is important to me.
A number of years ago my minister father left my mother after an adulterous affair with his secretary. I’m telling this story with his permission. My father is now 90 years old.

This turn of events jarred us. We’ve not seen divorce often in our extended family. All of us are believers, and most of us are in the ministry, for four generations. While my father was working as a denominational executive, he began to counsel his secretary about her marriage. She found in him what she could not find in her husband. Soon, compromises entered in and adultery followed. My father did what he had often told us never to do—counsel someone of the opposite sex in a closed room. What seemed impossible to him and to us actually happened. And it happened within months of his retirement.

The four children gathered, from long distances, at my parent’s home to beg for dad’s repentance. He appeared to repent at that time, but soon backed away from it. Like Lot’s wife, his heart was gone, even though, by his own admission, there was nothing on my mother’s part to cause his sin. He did not turn around. Rather, he divorced my mother, married his secretary, and moved to another city. His retirement years, which at one time were going to be filled with ministerial activity and travel, were now an impossible dream.

Then came my mother’s death, just two years later. She died of Alzheimer’s disease, the effects of which were not noticeable until after the divorce. She had remained godly, fervent in her prayers for her former husband, and amazingly forgiving. But, to put it mildly, she was devastated, never before imagining that this could possibly happen to her.

Before she died, father truly repented. With tears of anguish over his actions, he asked the family’s forgiveness. He even came to the bedside of my mother to speak with her prior to her death. But the damage was done. He had lost his job, his reputation, his confidence, his family’s respect, his future ministry, his joy, and even the assurance of his own salvation. He had been a fool.

We are now twenty-two years beyond that awful period of time. Thankfully, Dad has been restored to Christian vitality, though with scars. His repentance was real and lasting. He has attempted to help others avoid the sinful actions of his past. Recently, as an old man, he stood before the Baptist pastors of one of our states and said that “he was a testimony of failure in the ministry.” But he also spoke of God’s remarkable grace. He spoke on this subject as well at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, where he had been a student. (Hear his story here)

Just this last year the four children took my father on the trip of his life. We traveled to ten small towns to visit all the memorable places of his childhood. We went to the place of his conversion, his call to preach, and his first church. This was a trip that none of us will ever forget. We laughed and cried, took pictures, and told stories all the way.

One day we drove down the dirt road to the quiet, secluded cemetery where my mother was buried, several miles outside of that familiar southern town where she grew up. This was the first time my father had seen the grave. He had refused to be disruptive by going to her funeral twenty-two years earlier. As we approached the grave, his body convulsed with tears as he clung to us. “How could I have done what I did to such a sweet person?” he cried. It was an agonizing, but cathartic moment for us all.

Why have I told this personal story? At the time of the affair, our family had attempted to convince the pastor of his church, one of the most prominent churches in the large city where my parents lived, to practice church discipline on my father. We had hoped that, at that vulnerable period, he would listen and repent if the church lovingly exercised this restorative biblical practice. They refused. I’m sure it was because they were not accustomed to such action and also because of the stature of my father in the church and community.

When we were in the car after that experience at the cemetery, I asked my father this question: “Dad, we tried to get your church to discipline you when you committed adultery. They would not do it. Do you think it would have stopped you from leaving mother if they had?”

Dad, who always takes the blame for his sin himself and would not let anyone else share in it, nonetheless, very humbly admitted, “I think it would have.”

Now, let me ask you, was the church where my parents attended loving my father by refusing to discipline him? Were they being gracious and kind? Were they doing what was best for him?

More that that, was the church loving God when they did not discipline my father? Were they following the Head of the church, Jesus Christ? Were they helping other families? Were they helping the believers throughout the city? Were they instructing younger children and youth in their church in the way of holiness and the sanctity of marriage?

What is the truth here? The truth is, church discipline is the most benevolent action that can ever be taken toward an erring church member, and when it is not done, it is flagrant disobedience toward God.

Restoring Those Who Fall

Let me be practical about an important matter. You need to have a comprehensive discipline statement for your church. We have a church discipline statement that may be adopted, or adapted for your use. It is called Restoring Those Who Fall, and it is the church discipline statement that I helped to write along with one of the pastors of the church I serve. The two of us were the first pastors of the church.

I have been involved in writing several statements like this in the past, but this is the clearest and most usable presentation of this doctrine I have had the privilege to work on. Since other churches through the years have asked for this statement we decided to put it in a book called Our Church on Solid Ground. We are not publishing that book presently, but will soon offer this discipline statement, now revised, as a small booklet. Dr. Jay Adams put the first writing of this statement in his Journal of Modern Ministry making it even more accessible to leaders. FIEL Ministries of Brazil distributed 22,000 copies of this statement to pastors and leaders in a small booklet for Portuguese-speaking people also.

I do not want to presume that all of you will find our statement the best for you. However, if you cannot find a better statement, or cannot write your own, you may consider accepting this as your discipline plan.

Let me suggest that you obtain copies of this booklet when they become available for your leaders. Or, you may download the statement in electronic form found on this site. Take them carefully through each line, looking up Scriptures and talking through the implications and strategy your church will take when sin enters the fellowship. Then you might consider taking the men as a whole through a period of study on church discipline, using the statement. Finally, it could be presented to all of the members. Then, according to the way your church makes decisions, the statement could be adopted as your church discipline policy.

We have found it helpful to have all incoming members read the discipline statement. We even include these words in our church membership agreement (church covenant):

I will submit to the church’s discipline upon myself and lovingly assume my responsibility to participate in the discipline of other members, as taught in Scripture.[1]

You can understand my burden for restoring this practice. If you love people and love God, you will do it. If you neglect church discipline you will be disobeying the Head of the church, Jesus Christ, who commanded that you do it.
Restoring Those Who Fall, a church discipline statement, may be ordered from CCW for inexpensive bulk rates. The publication date for this booklet will be announced soon on this site. An electronic copy of Restoring Those Who Fall may be found online at www.CCWtoday.org or www.ChristFellowshipKC.org.

The Relinquishing of Sound Doctrine

The Deceiver (2 John 1:7-9)7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

The True Doctrine 1 (John 7:14-36)14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

At a time in my walk with the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul I could not tell you nor did I care what sound doctrine was all about. Sound Doctrine may be mentioned in the typical charismatic or seeker sensitive churches but not thoroughly examined. You may ask, “What is Sound Doctrine and how detrimental to the Body of Christ is it?” Pastor John E. Coleman personally interviewed Frederick Price. Mr. Price would tell you that, “Doctrine is what screwed up the Church in the first place” Is this true? Unlike some of the popular professing Christians, I will hold fast to God’s infallible Word and say no.

True Doctrine 2 (1 Timothy 4:6-16)6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.

I will not make any assumptions in defining sound doctrine, to some it may be apparent, and to others it may not. What is sound doctrine? Biblically speaking sound is defined as following a systematic pattern without any defect in logic or in other words the Bible must be harmonious within itself. Now that definition in and of itself just cancelled out the majority of the televangelist that you have become accustomed to listening to on TBN, Daystar, and a slew of other heretical so called Christian stations. There are a few sound preachers that air on these stations; maybe a small percentage but that would be pushing it.

Doctrine is something that is taught or a group of collective teachings, also defined as a rule or principle of law, especially when established by precedent. The Bible itself is sound doctrine. This is why Paul mentioned at least five times in the books of Timothy and Titus to adhere to sound doctrine. Paul without a shadow of a doubt understood that ravenous wolves would come in and distort the truth and Paul wrote about this in the book of Galatians. If Apostle Paul was so tenacious about this one thing why do we sit back in the church and act as if it is no issue.

Do you recall when you were a teenager or little kid and someone had the temerity to talk about your mother or father? At the drop of a hat we were ready to defend the name of our parents and some of your will even do this now. Should we not be this zealous for the Lord? I am somewhat ashamed at how Christians avoid opportunities to witness for the Lord because they do not want to be called controversial or rebellious. I would not encourage those traits but think for a minute…. Are we not called out from the world? Aren’t we supposed to be ambassadors in a foreign land? Then why are we so concerned about being everyone’s friend verses giving the people what they need and that is truth. I like most of you, wrestle with my flesh and sometimes-really most of the time doing what is righteous does not feel good on the outside. It is almost as if the majority of the things that are good for you end up being the most difficult.

Isn’t it our God given duty to defend the Faith that Christ our Savior died for? How about when we hear about charlatans who say they have been to Heaven or Hell and back and we ignorantly do not contest their claims even though they contradict scripture. What is the difference between Jesse Duplantis and Joseph Smith or Creflo Dollar and Charles Taze Russell? There is none because they all veer a mile away from the orthodox foundational teachings that were laid by Christ and the Apostles. All heresy streams from extra-Biblical emotional subjective experiences.

As I write this article you know and I know that America’s Christianity(or the typical church-of course their are exceptions) is as shallow as Joel Osteen’s theology. We have been duped!!! Here is the test of legitimacy. A great preacher named Paul Washer once said, “Have Joel Osteen, T. D. Jakes, or any other prosperity preachers go to the jungles of Peru like I do and try preaching that prosperity mess and see what happens.” The truth is that we know that these so called preachers do not preach the whole counsel of God; would that not be defined as a lie? When bringing forth the Gospel of Jesus Christ we must understand that God is totally sovereign and the truth of the Gospel is something supernatural that totally supersedes all socioeconomic hang-ups in our culture. Some of us choose our churches based on the style of music instead of the accuracy of the Gospel being preached. The majority of the Gospel music we hear today is based on God doing something for us instead of pointing us to our depravity and total dependence on the Holy Spirit and the washing of the Word to continue what God started in us. We are to speak as Paul did.

(Acts 20:27)For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

With all the television shows that desensitize us to the reality of our sin and our total depravity, we have lost sight of the holiness of our Righteous God. How can we sit in our seats at the theater and laugh at the very things that God hates? Are we not to love the things that God loves and hate what He hates? All the things that I am mentioning come from a contorted view of the importance of adhering to sound doctrine. We don’t ask questions like, “What does the Lord think about this?” The charlatans in the pulpit have set our affections on the things of this world rather than on spiritual things of eternal significance. Honestly all the blame cannot be put on the shallow preaching, for they do exactly what scripture says they will do. This can be attributed to people wanting to have their ears tickled and just plain not wanting to hear the truth of the Gospel. Do we really believe what Peter repeated to us from the book of Isaiah?

Examine Yourself (1 Peter 1:24-25)24 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever

Please thoroughly examine yourselves to see if you are really in the Faith as Paul warns us to do in II Corinthians 13:5. Listen, we spend all life doing everything else and investing time in temporal things. Take a week or longer and examine if you are a true Christian. Separate yourself from the carnal things of this world for a minute and read 1 John to see where your affections are set. This is so much more than saying a sinner’s prayer at the altar, which is not Biblical anyway. Read Matthew 24 & 25 this confirms that this is more than tongue aerobics or an emotional frenzy. The reality of eternity may be closer than we think.

Fasten Your Theology:Engaging A Remnant Culture

Here in Kansas City, Missouri some families have decided to pack up and move from the suburbs to the “HOOD.” The church they attend is a church I could have easily been apart of but God saw it better for me to be a part of Christ Fellowship of KC. Some of the families at this church(Faith Community Church) have been living there for years. Jason Dawson who is a member at that church and fellow blogger lives in the Northeast part of KC with his family and others from his church have followed. (his blog is http://urbanreformation.com) We have heard of this at my church and have decided to do the same. Many at our church like myself have put their house on the market and this will be their next move God willing. I think this is an excellent sense of community that believers desire and even want to mimic when looking at the first century church. Jason wrote this article and I thought it was great! Enjoy!

Today started off innocent enough, we are preparing for our annual BYBC (Back Yard Bible Club) out of our home next week. One of the things I’ve noticed from living in the city for a few years now is the fact that when we moved down here, it was to bring Christ into this place. It was to bring light into darkness.

However one of the things that our flesh automatically does without our taking notice, is it has us in the same routines we used to do when we lived in the suburbs. In other words, we have not been engaged in the city like we should. We would often eat out in restaurants outside of the the North East, and do most of our shopping outside of the north east. I would go to work and come home. This is what most of America does, we live in these compartments of comfort and safety and we have been no different.

My family and I started the day off by considering these things, and making our way to Budd Park city pool not too far from our home, in order to be intentional. We have always managed to find the ability to swim outside of the city because often it’s been outside of what we know and our comfort zone. However today we went there with the intention of passing out flyer's for the back yard bible club next week. I was surprised when there were several there who seemed interested especially one Hispanic man and his son.

It was a small pool but the whole family enjoyed themselves and well I got a little too much sun. Regardless we were able to pass out several flyer's for the BYBC and we are hopeful some might come. May we continue to pray for the families we spoke to as well.

And then if I didn’t have enough I spoke with a friend of mine who’s in our shepherding group and he came over for dinner this evening. Things went very well at the pool so I asked him if he would go down to Independence Avenue with me. Little did I know what we would encounter as we went out to share Christ. We prayed and both of us having a conversation of this to be genuine sharing Christ and we desired that it not be just something wrote or disingenuous, but that the Holy Spirit would empower His people to share His Grace.

The first guy we ran into started speaking about terrestrials, and he was speaking to himself in the air before we got there. He spoke of uncloaking people. We did the best we could to speak to him but he was not receptive, we gave him a book Pursuing God—A Seeker’s Guide and just then another gentleman walked up to us probably late 20’s with a baseball cap, white guy with gold fronts. He was wanting to go “kick it” somewhere and just then Bobby mentioned that we are here to share the gospel with him. We let him speak for quite a while, it was a bi-polar conversation, and just as there was a crack for us to make our way in the bus came and he took off, yes with a book as well.

As we began to walk down the street slowly looking around finally we crossed, and there was a guy who we attempted to speak to, asking him “do you know who Jesus Christ is?” he replied, ” that’s a funny question because I think you know who I am” and then he walked off. We by this time were perplexed about our encounters.

Until we came down the block and as I prayed I was wondering if we’d encounter anyone who’s conscience wasn’t so seared by the things of this world so that they could hear a crying out for them to believe on Jesus Christ that they might be saved.

Right about this time we see this woman sitting right about where the back of this white car is now. We asked her simply, ” Did she know who Jesus was?” Almost in an instant her eyes welled up with tears. This poor haggard woman was probably in her early to mid 40’s. She had kind of colored reddish brown hair. She had one top tooth and her bottom teeth were black and crooked. She looked worn from drugs, abuse, possibly prostitution at some point.

Bobby and I weren’t prepared for the conversation that we had next. She said yes she knows who Jesus is, and she said that she believes in Jesus. I have counseled and spoken to dozens of addicts who say Jesus and then they love the world. This woman was different. I don’t have the conversation verbatim, however one of the first things she said is that, “God chooses people and he hasn’t chosen me.” She said she married a Christian man at the age of 33 and lived as a believer for 5 years, and gave her whole heart to God, but God would never free her from her addictions. She had heard countless stories and seen them of how people came into churches and were saved and then freed from their addiction but she’s cried and pleaded to God to free her, and she said all the immoral things I do, I’ve asked him to take it from me and he just won’t. If you could see the pain and agony in her tears, the worn face, and the tired and probably high countenance.

We had never encountered someone who had in a sense “right” doctrine and saw that in spite of her incessant crying out to God, she could not free herself, and He seemingly to her, would not help her. Bobby comforted her with these words, if you had to live in torment all the days of your life, and in agony, and pain, would your faith be worth it, is God whom you trust in? She insisted that she believes in God and that she will until the day she dies, but He has not chosen her, and so she’s given up. I tried to point her to the fact that as long as she has breath it’s not too late, and that even right now if God’s in control of everything, that us meeting her in that very moment was His purposed plan to call her back out of darkness into light.

Bobby had more words of comfort for her in the sense that he has experience with similar situations and to be truthful we were shown a glimpse of a perspective that we knew was out there but never had anticipated an articulation of theology from an addict on the streets. I pray that God will use this meeting with Donna to bring her to Himself, I’ve never seen anyone so seemingly desperate for God, and honest about it since I’ve been down here.

This was an encounter I will never forget. I’m sure Bobby won’t either, and it’s a wake up call to sitting, living compartmentally, socially detracted, and distracted from the movement of the Gospel to move men and women to engage the people around them.

We pray soon that we’ll make this a regular practice and we’ve picked out a starting point on Independence Avenue. For those of you that don’t know Independence Avenue is one of the most difficult places in Kansas City MO in regards to sin and crime. I’m still processing through everything that happened tonight so please forgive me if I’ve not articulated well, or that I leave any theological cliff hangers dangling because these are things that when they are on paper, and in the pages of books they can seem very comforting, and trustworthy but this increased God’s enormity in my life this evening in the sense that I am nothing before Him but an instrument. I hope an instrument that He might use to people to really engage people who are not like themselves.


For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. -1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If anyone knows me I don’t use this passage to justify being like the world but I view this passage as having to know and be engaged in peoples life, in their context for the genuine purpose, like Paul, to Share Christ with the lost.

So I charge all of you to pray for Donna, the lady we met this evening! And then I challenge all of you to look up, and see what we’re missing when it comes to lost souls!!!

The same savior that saved you desires for others to make disciples as an imperative in Mathew 28, in an authentic genuine way that will bring honor and Glory to His name.

If you’re interested in sharing Christ on Independence Avenue we will be doing it again next week starting here.

The New Covenant and Jeremiah 17:9

By Lionel Woods

I was listening to a specific album and also reading a really good blog yesterday. Both of them referenced Jer 17:9 which says:

9 The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately sick;who can understand it?

I have no problem with this being referenced at all. Actually I even use at times when I am sharing the gospel, especially when someone says “oh God knows my heart”. There is also a parallel in the Gospel according to Matthew in which Jesus says “it is not what goes into a man’s mouth what defiles him…….For out of the heart comes evil thoughts”. So again I think this is a very weighty truth and shows the depravity of mankind and the verse can be used in such an instance but……….

The current usage of the verse

In both instances the person applied these verses to themselves or others as Christians and this is where I have the problem. Christian’s don’t have wicked hearts we have new hearts. I understand where people are trying to go when quoting this verse and applying it to Christians but I think they are wrong and gravely wrong at that. You may think I am splitting hairs and that this conversation isn’t relevant but give me a few minutes and I will explain why this isn’t so. The current usage is in the battle between our fallen flesh and our new nature. Both are at war with one another so this verse is used in the sense of saying “I really can’t trust myself, I must trust the word of God and the Spirit”. I agree that we struggle with the flesh because we have dual citizenship. Our primary citizenship is in heaven while simultaneously we are strangers or aliens in this sinful world and we have the ability to sin because we still have this corrupting flesh that we occupy. This however doesn’t make this verse applicable, although I get the point that is trying to be made.

The audiences view of this scripture

First lets see exactly what is being said just a few verses previous to verse 9 to understand what the prophet Jeremiah was conveying:
17:1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. 4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

God is speaking to Judah through Jeremiah and proclaiming His judgment upon them. He tells them “I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know”. Why is this? Because they have turned to other gods to serve them. Just as Israel will be conquered so will Judah. Judah held on a little while longer but eventually they gave themselves over to idolatry and the violating of the Covenant God made with them (thus the Old Covenant had land promises that were conditional upon covenantal faithfulness).
So first we must see how does this apply to us. The observation is quite simple. It does not apply to gentiles in its immediate context; however in its broader context we understand that all who reject the Messiah have wicked hearts and we see that in Matthew when Christ addresses what comes out of the heart is which defiles but what goes in the mouth is digested and discarded (the focus not on clean hands but clean hearts).

A Future Promise of a New Heart

Even if this did apply to all people there is a huge prophecy given 14 chapters later in which I hold in high regard because of its fulfillment in Christ. It is found in Jeremiah 31:
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

At last we see an answer for Israel’s problems. We have to understand what is going on here. Israel CANT KEEP THE TERMS OF THE OLD COVENANT! We must see that. We have to see that. We see in the New Testament Paul calling this covenant good and spiritual but also powerless. The covenant leaves mankind to himself and if left to ourselves we are in trouble. Israel can’t keep the terms folks. We see that quite easily.

1. Moses is gone for 40 days and they already make a god in the form of a calf

2. God keeps them and conquers their enemies and when they are on the brink of entering the promise land they punk out (we would have also) send some spies and shake their fist at God.

3. God conquers their enemies in Joshua and not a hundred years pass before they are already unfaithful to the covenant and we see the cycle of judges for 500 years.

4. They reject God’s rule over them and beg for a king.

5. The 3 king violates all the terms of the covenant by intermarriage and we see the rapid decline of Israel, the subsequent division of the kingdoms and idol worship becomes the norm.
All of this proves that God is faithful but the covenant made with the people is conditional. God always keeps His side of the deal but the mutual party can’t. It is impossible there is no life giving power in that covenant it is a covenant or ministry of death (2 Cor 3).

The prophecy fulfilled

In Hebrews 8 we see:

6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second…………
…….13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The writer takes Jeremiah 31 and applies it to those who have placed saving faith in Jesus Christ. What is the centrality of this New Covenant? Lets see:

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:I will put my laws into their minds,and write them on their hearts,and I will be their God,and they shall be my people.

The New Covenant writes God’s law on our hearts and our minds and we are given the power to obey and respond. Ezekiel also makes a prophecy in chapter 36 but that is up for debate. Even if you believe that some of those promises will be fully realized in the Millennium you still must believe that the “new heart” and the “new spirit” are realized today in those who have been born again.

In Closing
Once again this may seem like I am splitting hairs but I am not. My home church is going through Ephesians and it is important that we understand our position in Christ and exactly what God has done for us in Christ. We have a high status before God and I don’t want us infringing upon this status by calling our new hearts purchased by the blood of Christ, chosen by God the Father and sealed by Spirit of God , wicked! We don’t have wicked hearts. We have new hearts which are beautiful, we have been born-again, we are new creatures, and we no longer have to struggle with our hearts. Our struggle is with the flesh and the devil. God has made us slaves to righteousness so we no longer need to fear our hearts, though the non-believer best fear it greatly. I want to tackle the wretched men but I really need about a 5-10 page essay on it to answer all of the faulty questions about the “wretched men” theology that plagues our churches. God bless and love to interact with you thin.

Free Books from Jim Elliff

My Pastor and great brother in the Lord is offering Free Books. I have a few to spare so please contact me with your address if you would like a copy for free. Send your address to tlhorton80@hotmail.com or just leave the message in the post. This was written by Pastor Jim Ehrhard who was Jim Elliff's pastor a long time ago and it is an excellent biblical view of what we know as the "invitation system." Only a few copies so let me know as soon as possible. God Bless in Christ. Thanks Pastor Jim.

Update-No more books available. I posted this on our(Lionel and I) other site and plenty responded. Unfortunately we have no more copies to give at this time. Hopefully we will have more to give at a later date. Thanks in Christ.